“I Would Just Feel Really Relaxed and at Peace”: Findings From a Pilot Prison Yoga Program in Australia

Abstract

International research provides support for yoga as a well-being intervention in prison. No systematic research has been undertaken in Australia to assess the effectiveness of prison yoga programs. In 2017, the authors, in partnership with Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Corrective Services and the Yoga Foundation, introduced a weekly pilot yoga program at the ACT prison. This article presents quantitative and qualitative findings from the program. Although the small sample size ( n = 8) is acknowledged, our findings indicate that participants attained statistically and clinically significant benefit from the program, demonstrated by improvements in their levels of depression, anxiety, self-esteem, goal-direction, negative affect, and non-acceptance. They also reported improved flexibility, sleep and relaxation, pain reduction, and identified improvements in their mental well-being, commenting that the program made them feel “calm” and “at peace.” The article concludes by advocating for the expansion of such programs in Australian prisons and further research on such programs.

Rethinking Incarcerated Women's Leisure as Subjected to Coercive and Normative Prison Missions

“…Relational leisure includes support groups and citizen-detainee circles (see Twaddle et al, 2007;Pedlar et al, 2008Pedlar et al, , 2018Fortune et al, 2010;Yuen et al, 2012). The above types are not mutually exclusive: for instance dance is physical and artistic, whereas yoga is physical, artistic, and spiritual (see Frigon and Jenny, 2009;Frigon, 2010Frigon, , 2014Frigon, , 2019Jenny and Frigon, 2012;Bilderbeck et al, 2014;Auty et al, 2017;Bartels et al, 2019;Middleton et al, 2019;Rousseau et al, 2019). Programs include parenting, philosophy, nutrition, and high school courses; work and vocational training; clinical or therapeutic programs focused on intoxication or addictions (Morash et al, 1994;Batchelder and Pippert, 2002;Pollack, 2009Pollack, , 2016Williams and Walker, 2009;Firth et al, 2015;McCall, 2016;Coulombe, 2017;Crittenden and Koons-Witt, 2017;Duwe, 2017;Zhao et al, 2019).…”

Lessons in Flexibility: Introducing a Yoga Program in an Australian Prison

“…The quantitative and qualitative methods and findings from our project are described in more detail in Bartels et al (2019). 3 Pre-(n = 8) and post-program (n = 9) quantitative wellbeing data were collected with participants' consent, using a number of well-accepted psychological testing measures.…”

“…This article describes the project and reports on the process of introducing a yoga program in an Australian prison; elsewhere, we draw on quantitative and qualitative data to consider the impacts on participants (Bartels et al 2019; see also . The article begins by surveying the international research on the impact of yoga in prisoner populations, providing justification for an Australian pilot.…”

Rethinking Incarcerated Women's Leisure as Subjected to Coercive and Normative Prison Missions

“…Frigon 2010; Frigon and Jenny 2009;Jenny and Frigon 2012;Auty, Cope, and Liebling 2017;Bartels, Oxman, and Hopkins 2019;Bilderbeck, Farias, and Brazil 2014;Middleton, Harris, and Ackerman 2019;Rousseau et al 2019). Programs include parenting, philosophy, nutrition, and high school courses; work and vocational training; clinical or therapeutic programs focused on intoxication or addictions(Batchelder and Pippert 2002;Coulombe 2017;Crittenden and Koons-Witt 2017;Duwe 2017;Firth et al 2015;McCall 2016;Morash, Haarr, and Rucker 1994;Pollack 2009;Williams and Walker 2009;Zhao et al 2019).…”

“…Esposito 2015;Frigon 2014;Jenny and Frigon 2012;Meek and Lewis 2014;Ozano 2008;Woods, Breslin, and Hassan 2017;Auty, Cope, and Liebling 2017;Bartels, Oxman, and Hopkins 2019). Indigenous women's ceremonies have spiritual, but also physical and psychological benefits by fostering holistic healing(Yuen 2011).…”